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sticksandbones2024-02-17 08:11 pm
sticksandbonesmods) wrote in sticksandbones2024-02-17 08:11 pm
Entry tags:
MATTERS OF THE HEART
Who: Livio, Wolfwood, Elsword, Mizuki, Add, Heimr
What: heimrquest
When: several days after the bar is built, late in the evening
Where: ???????
Warnings: mentioned child death, mentions of plague, paranoia, supernatural-driven insanity, survivor's guilt, death, possession, impersonation, body horror. more will be added as needed.
The General Store isn't always the most bustling place, least of all in a small make-shift town of only a handful of people, each one more troubled than the last. But at some point, each and every one of you has needed something from Heimr today. Maybe it was just a bag of candy. Maybe it was something more pressing, or some groceries. Regardless, one by one he's tended to your needs, and you leave the store with little fanfare save for the fact that it's unusually foggy out this evening- not enough that you can't see other buildings...
Until you can't.
All around you is a heavy mist, and the scent of a wood fire and warm spices floats through the air. There's no turning back, so all you can do is move forward.
On an OOC note, the Choose Your Own Adventure threads will eventually merge into one group thread. Once this occurs, mod tags will occur after each involved character has tagged, or after 24 hours have passed. That said, if it looks like good banter or development is happening, the Mod will hold off a bit or until dramatic irony strikes.
What: heimrquest
When: several days after the bar is built, late in the evening
Where: ???????
Warnings: mentioned child death, mentions of plague, paranoia, supernatural-driven insanity, survivor's guilt, death, possession, impersonation, body horror. more will be added as needed.
The General Store isn't always the most bustling place, least of all in a small make-shift town of only a handful of people, each one more troubled than the last. But at some point, each and every one of you has needed something from Heimr today. Maybe it was just a bag of candy. Maybe it was something more pressing, or some groceries. Regardless, one by one he's tended to your needs, and you leave the store with little fanfare save for the fact that it's unusually foggy out this evening- not enough that you can't see other buildings...
Until you can't.
All around you is a heavy mist, and the scent of a wood fire and warm spices floats through the air. There's no turning back, so all you can do is move forward.
On an OOC note, the Choose Your Own Adventure threads will eventually merge into one group thread. Once this occurs, mod tags will occur after each involved character has tagged, or after 24 hours have passed. That said, if it looks like good banter or development is happening, the Mod will hold off a bit or until dramatic irony strikes.
no subject
... but he wants to. It's intimidating, knowing that someone has an image in their minds of a better version of you. An Add who knew how to love, how to make friends, be an older brother, a good son... but that version of him is gone. Overwritten. He's a different person now. Someone who never made a friend for eighteen years. Someone who grew up an only child. Someone who never really got to know his own mother.
Would it be okay, to accept love as someone like that?
But it's too much to ask for. He... said it doesn't feel right. So maybe Add needs to do better first. Love is something earned, even if the metric is confusing. He has to try harder, to be worthy.
"... He was lucky. Too bad, about how it all ended."
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"... Add. You are allowed to ask for love, and to hold it. You are allowed to give it. You ain't gonna learn more about how to love and be loved if you don't. Be clumsy. Be a little greedy. I just... I've never left this day. I never will leave this day. I look at you, and I see my boy- but I don't. And you've made it clear that you don't want to be seen as him.
I try to respect that.
But you're still mine."
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There's an instinctive urge to deny it again, but nothing escapes his throat. It's frightening. Being known, risking rejection. I'll disappoint you. I'll mess it up—if Heimr could hear his thoughts before, can he still hear everything now? How long was he listening? Oh god.
Add takes a shaky step back. There is a very real temptation to run away, so it's probably for the best that they're both stuck in this hazy memory. He's not quite startled enough to forget that.
Deep breaths, Add. Stay calm. Keep it together.
"I... i-it's not like that, I just... I'm not..."
he doesn't know how to say it, so this is the only way he ever will
he never gave up on mom, so why should he give up on everyone else? why can't they fix what was lost?
it's not over yet. it doesn't have to be. it won't be exactly the same, but... nothing is impossible.
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"Son, yer in the heart of a man who's only heart. I don't mean to pry. But everything is everywhere, here. Your heart's just as open to me as mine is to you."
It's just that as the host, Heimr's memories are what persists.
He reaches over, gently brushing some hair out of Add's face.
"I worry 'bout you. But I could never stop lovin' you. ... And thank you. Truly."
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embarrassing, embarrassing
Add clears his throat. They should talk about something more important, like—
"I wasn't touching you when I got here... you said you'd just seen Mizuki, but his signal wasn't broadcasting. Also, the rules inside have changed. What's going on?"
Does Heimr know? If he doesn't, maybe they can figure it out.
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Heimr taps his 'chin', one hand on his hip- and then perks up a little.
"Almost forgot. There's one more thing that happens before I start tendin' to the aftermath."
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"... What was it?"
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"Told you I'd win, "Dad". They're allllll mine, now."
The man doesn't dignify the ghost wearing his son's face with a response. In the true history, it was out of grief and defeat. Here, it's resignation... but nothing will proceed if he doesn't.
"Not entirely. I may be alone... but the children of the Grove are well beyond your reach."
no subject
This makes sense. So, this what the forest's "avatar" looks like...
... if he were braver, he'd probably cut in, or at least stand taller, but. He shrinks back, unsure if the memory can see him. If it could try to hurt him, within this space. What might happen if it did.
The hole in his face aches.
He'd rather not be noticed.
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"Their souls... where are the souls? What did you DO-"
The child's face distorts and for a moment, there's a flicker of a second form behind the child, like a puppetteer being revealed on accident. Heimr seems taken aback, because the figure is tall and bone-thin and bedraggled, horns forming a perfect ring around his head like a halo, but his eyes are a hollow pitch black- and then he's gone.
"I sent them away. You either let us live or let us go- and you chose the latter. You- you won't hurt them again." Heimr says, weariness turning to a righteous fury.
He was alone in this forest now. He may be forever. But his town was gone and safe in their new lives. They had to be.
"Elijah" snarls, suddenly appearing before Heimr's face- gravity means little to dolls- eyes wide with a deranged wrath.
"I won't be trapped forever! I am so much more than this, and even if you broke my toys, you're still here! I'll tear you to shreds if I have to!"
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... well, up until the threats start escalating. The rational part of Add's brain says he should stay put and let this memory play out and not draw attention to himself, but the recklessly stupid part of his brain wants to jump in and intercept right away. He settles on a compromise, shooting Heimr a concerned look while Dynamo maneuvers itself between them and "Elijah"—not quite in obvious view, but if things get any worse, he can try? To stop it? He is going to try even if Heimr tells him not to.
no subject
"What IS this?! More of your tricks?"
Heimr glances back for a moment, and then forward once more.
"It ain't nothin' you need to concern yourself. You don't even need to gloat. It's over."
"Elijah" snarls- and Heimr simply turns around, still keeping Add shielded, and starts to walk away.
It would be nice if this is how it really went. But little changes let little miracles of strength happen.
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he can't. not again, never again, no matter how much this thing terrifies him—
He stubbornly wants to dig in his heels, to prove something stupid to this ghost of a memory... but Heimr turns around, his back to the enemy (don't do that, that's tactical suicide). Reluctantly, anxiously, Add allows himself to be lead away. Watching over his shoulder the entire time, Dynamo trailing behind them...
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"In the real deal, I let it yell at me. It can't hurt me in this form, however much it wishes- not beyond usin' Elijah's face like that. ... I've always been more proactive with one of my kids around."
And since it's a memory diverging off script, and Heimr has no idea of how the Forest would act- nor the desire to speculate on it- "Elijah" vanishes with a desolate wind.
no subject
It's a relief, but it also makes him feel kind of stupid. He got all worked up for nothing... he probably missed a lot of useful information from that memory... ugh.
"You could've mentioned that sooner," he grumbles half-heartedly, as if Heimr was going to give him a warning. He should've at least attacked for real, just to see what would happen. It would've been so satisfying.
no subject
Add's an inquisitive sort- the kind who takes everything of use and then some. But they aren't quite heading to the town. Not yet. Across from the well Heimr had been grieving at, there's a smoldering pile of ash where the general store would be. Sitting in the middle is a pink fox, plum blossoms falling from it like petals falling from trees in spring. Heimr crouches before it extending a hand, which it headbutts against. A pact is made in unspoken words. A promise is sealed.
The ash and burnt lumber vanishes in a familiar magic circle, and the General Store as Add knows it sprouts forth, the fox vanishing.
"... Truthfully, I don't really remember why I had them make the store. Somethin' to do to pass the time, I suppose."
no subject
He already feels exposed in here... and it goes deeper? How much deeper? Why is he being "sent off" in the first place? What is happening here, Shopkeeper, do you know or not?
"Why are you showing me this? Is there something I'm supposed to do with it?"
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... Those changes don't change the actual past, though. But they give me nice 'what ifs'. Like what you did, just by bein' here. I woulda just let the forest keep talkin' if you weren't."
But he's not a man who backs down in front of his kids, generally.
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Well, he doesn't have much choice, so he'll have to manage somehow. He sighs, straightening out his tie. Keep it together, Add. Don't make Heimr worry over nothing.
"How many others?" He can guess at least one—maybe two. He'd been looking for Mizuki, but he hadn't picked up Elsword's signature for awhile either. If he's not out fishing by the river... "I didn't see anyone else in the store when I left, and you didn't mention anything unusual... am I speaking to an unconscious part of Heimr's mind?"
Will he remember all of this? Or just the "what ifs"?
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He'll guide Add into the store and true to his word, the main focus is just a place for them to sit and rest. Even taking a seat at his counter emphasizes how much smaller he is comparitively.
"I think you might be- I know the core of me- is still awake and working. I'm not sure why the lot of you are here, or how. But... Like I said, its a one-way road."
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Add slumps into a chair as Dynamo stacks themselves neatly around his feet. He nods along quietly to the answer, decompressing.
"... likely subliminal. If I had the time to experiment..." This is definitely not an ethical thought, but it is tangentially related to his research. Ah, but he should keep that off his mind in here. He sits himself back up. "Noted. I'll keep an eye out for the others, if I run into them."
There's only one path forward, so he should move on as soon as possible... but. The heartscapes aren't just a reel of memories.
"Is there... anything I should be careful with? If it might cause you external harm, or..." if you die in heimrquest do you die in real life
no subject
"If you get hurt or anything too badly, you'll likely return to the 'hub' of things to recover mentally. Every heartscape seems to have them, you know what I'm talkin' about. Mines not set up the exact same, but that's consistent."
... Even if it's just a room of smoke. Maybe things will clear up more as they go.
"Actual physical wounds shouldn't be possible. ... Shouldn't is the key word. I don't expect anything to go as planned, since I didn't even expect this."
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Anyway, it's better not to take unnecessary risks. They should prioritize getting out of here first, stay out of danger, and avoid anything that might damage the host's psyche. As for "what ifs"... it's probably better to play along, if they can, but this Heimr seems to still remember the true events. If the memories aren't being altered, it should be okay like this.
... even an awful memory like this is important, after all. They've both been shaped by loss.
He's quiet for a long moment, hands in his lap.
"... I meant what I said before. You, and Nene... and mother, too. I'll find a way to save all of you this time."
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"I know. And I'll be there for you."
... But Add's not one for contact, so he backs up again, lingering only in case Add decides to initiate anything himself.
"The memories will be... odd. You may be observers, or you may take the place of someone, if not yourselves. I may not realize you're there until later, too. Just do what feels natural. I'll be fine."
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Maybe... he'll allow himself to be a little clumsier, next time.
But for now, he exhales softly once the contact ends. Dynamo floats back into the air, recharged.
"Alright, then. What happens next?"
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